Nearly one month ago to the day it seemed that Taylor Price was about to become a bigger part of the Patriots offense.

Taylor Price’s tenure finally came to an end in New England. (FILE:Icon/SMI)

One month later, he’s now in search of a new football team.

Last month offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said that the team needed to get Price more involved with the offense, saying that the receiver needed to get more game reps with the offense.

“We need to get him in there more,” O’Brien said during a conference call. “He’s done a good job in practice. He’s a guy that we have to give him some more reps in the games.”

Those comments came the week leading up to the Giants game, where Price once again found himself inactive. Since being drafted in the 3rd round last year he’s only been active for three games, and has seen just 18 snaps this season, where he was targeted by Tom Brady just once.

He showed plenty of potential during the preseason, including a game where he caught 5 balls for 105 yards and a touchdown in week 2 against the Jaguars. In that game Price took a helmet-to-helmet shot that resulted in a $20,000 fine for Jacksonville linebacker Mike Lockley. That kept him out a week later, but that ended up being his best game as a Patriot.

As for the regular season, obviously whatever involvement they were looking for after O’Brien’s comments never materialized. As a result, they appear to be done waiting on whatever potential the former 3rd round pick out of Ohio would have with this offense, and now it leaves those snaps open to guys like Chad Ochocinco, Matthew Slater, and Tiquan Underwood. Should Bill Belichick elect to start utilizing Julian Edelman in the offense, he’s another guy who could contribute.

The frustrating part is the fact they’re one receiver away from really becoming even more lethal on offense than they’ve shown they can be this season. Unfortunately Price couldn’t be the guy to step up and make a bigger impact, and now it will be interesting to see who ends up filling the role that Patriots fans always hoped would eventually be his.